Turcot interchange: painting with grass

Its not what you might think, although, it looks like it. Actually, I got out to location in a bit of a rush and forgot to bring my paint brushes. The last time this happened I used a fork to paint a scene of the PERFORM Centre on campus in winter, and it turned out okay. This time, I saw some grass nearby, it was the kind of grass with bushy seed pods on top, so it kind of worked to smear paint on the paper. The other end of the grass provided sharper details. After some time I started to get the hang of it. At least the 'paint brushes' were bio-degradable. You can see some of the grass seeds up in the sky of the painting.  

Turcot interchange with grass, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

Bike ride around the islands, full circle

Riding my bike along Maissoneuve bike path and down Peel, I found my way out to st Helen's island where they have the amusement park. It was built, the island that is, for Expo 67 using the excavated earth from Decarie highway. Since the connector-path along the south seaway was finally open, I could keep riding to where the Champlain bridge is at, and over the ice control bridge back to Montreal. In this scene, my favorite on the day, you see a remnant structure of the old Champlain bridge, with the new Champlain bridge sweeping across the background. 

Old Champlain bridge remnant, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

On the center left is the Island Bridge, connecting st Helen to Notre dame islands, with a view of Montreal condos in the background. So I am standing over in Notre dame island near the race track, which is used for bikes this time of year. 

Island Bridge city-scape, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

The Villeneuve race track is used for car racing once a year, but people on fast, expensive bikes wearing spandex use it for the rest of the summer. I made this painting looking west, with part of the Island bridge visible at the top. I used just a few brush strokes for the cyclists, leaving some white spots open when I put the wash down for the track. 

Fast bikes track, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

The river that runs between ile Notre Dame and the south shore is called the Monks channel... it has chunks of rock all along its banks, with fast flowing water. When the sun shines, the water takes on a pleasant turquoise colour that I always enjoy. 

Turquoise river, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

This was a challenging scene to paint, it shows part of the Victoria bridge, and that's the Montreal shore on the other side of the st Lawrence river. I was standing under the bridge next to the bike path looking up, and cars were visible through the steel grating. It made quite a noise too, so I painted fast and moved on to the next spot.

Cars overhead, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026 

Curio Folio: Potateor

You may have heard about today's partial eclipse, star alignment, and meteor shower, but what about the falling potateor? It was only visible from a narrow part of the sky directly above my apartment, and I could see it clearly with my telescope. Since the telescope does not have a camera, I made a painting of the scene from direct observation. It was an odd shape for a meteor, very potato like as it crashed through the upper atmosphere down towards earth. It took on a charred appearance then broke into pieces and landed in our back yard. Slices of the meteor were a crispy golden-brown with the aroma of french fries. Piles of debris were rather like mashed potato. I dared to taste a bit and sure enough... potato! How a giant potato-meteor (potateor) ever came to be in space we may never know, perhaps a tech-billionaire launched it into space for reasons unknown, or there are aliens that fly via potato ships. At any rate, it makes a wonderful addition to my curio folio of things you have never hear about, but absolutely really exist in real life. 

Curio Folio Potateor, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, August 2026

Westhaven field and flowers

At the end of Harley street int he Westhaven neighborhood, there is a field belonging to Loyola College, and it contains a community garden called Collectif - Le Dépot Garden. I've painted there many times before, too many to count,  because its a very relaxing and beautiful place to paint the trees, grass and flowers, and its nearby my office over at the Concordia University campus. Here are links you can click to a brown chair in the field, another scene of flowers, and a painting of the community garden. 

Field and flowers Collectif, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

 

Today I talked to one of the community members who maintains gardens, and is active in preserving the use of the land for community, her name is Cynthia, I first talked to her last year. Today she gave me some dried brown eyed Susan-type flowers which contains seeds I plan to add into our local 'garden street corner' they installed up on Somerled. She also is writing a land use report and wanted to include a painting or two in the report. I gladly offered her to right-click a few images and use in a report. I really appreciate this space and wish the continued success of all the locals who volunteer to keep it going. 

Hydrant field and flowers Collectif, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026 

 

Scenes along bike path near Trenholme park

Riding along the Maisonneuve bike path behind Trenholme park, and there were a few good scenes to paint after work. This one shows the train tracks and pea stone embankment in partial shadows, with creeper vines growing along the front fence. The shadow was done with dilute indo blue (PB60) dark magenta (PV55) and burnt red ochre (PR102). 

Train track embankment shadow, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

Looking towards the park, and you see an embankment grown over with wildflowers, a kind of yellow Queen Anne Lace variety. I worked up successive layers of green, yellow-green, yellow and dabs of dark green and brown. It was a real 'flex' on the yellow-green range of my palette. In the background, is one of the large condos buildings on Sherbrooke street. 

Yellow flower embankment horizontal, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

As I painted the previous scene, I noticed a few bright white flowers growing in among the yellow wildflowers, but it was too late to include them in that painting. In this version, I composed the scene on the vertical axis, then made sure to keep the paper showing where you see the white flowers. Bismuth vanadate yellow (PY184) provided the intensity here, although it is a very opaque paint, it can shine when put next to more neutral colours. 

Yellow flower embankment vertical, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026 

 

 

Purple Ferrari hazy day

I've been making paintings of this Ferrari sitting at the auto shop next to Decarie highway, its front left wheel was busted up and removed. Finding a spot on the sidewalk I made a portrait of it, then super-imposed the Decarie view to give an impression that the car is zooming up the off-ramp. Working the purple colours in successive layers, I also created an eerie glow all around with raw sienna (PBr7) and yellow ochre (PY43) in the sky and on the roads. So there you have it, the famous purple Ferrari brought back to life, on the road again, at least in my painting!

Purple Ferrari hazy day, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, August 2026

Yellowish sky, hazy day

I stopped first at 'triangle park', near the Vendome 5-way intersection, and made a painting of the neat tree that grows there. Its a birch tree, and its bark is always peeling off. Maybe it needs some extra birch tree nutrients. With a hazy, yellowish sky mid-afternoon, it was a sign of wild fire smoke once again. The yellows look really bright, the blues turn greyish, and everything has an eerie glow. 

Birch tree bark peeling, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

 

The yellow-orange sun was penetrating through a hazy pale-blue grey sky today. Hanging over a glass vaulted arch, it made for some interesting scenery to paint on location. A faint smell of 'camp-fire' confirmed this was from a far-off forest fire. I was standing in Dorchester square downtown, looking northwest. 

Glass vaulted arch yellow sun, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

Taking on this scene, while the sky dried on the previous painting, I captured the intersection of Rene-Levesque and Peel street. Avoiding blue, I tinted the cars yellow with dilute raw sienna (PBr7) and yellow ochre (PY43), then used black (PBk6) for shadowing and details. This painting seems significant to me, in that its perhaps the best painting yet of such a scene. When downtown the amount of stuff can be overwhelming. Using a sharper brush and larger sheet might get even better results. 

Traffic near Dorchester square hazy day, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

This painting was a bit of a fail, the paper was absorbing too fast creating flat washes and difficult to control details. I will try the scene again sometime, although its always back-lit. Perhaps a night scene would be good here, its a famous pub with a lively crowd. Soon I will get back to using new paper, for now I am working on the backs of old paintings as I consolidate the collection a tad. There is one more to post from today, I will make a separate blog for it, its a neat one!  

Peel PJD Pub, watercolour 6 x 9" cold press, August 2026